High ranking Chinese official to attend N.Korea festivities

General Sources - Wednesday 24th July, 2013

A North Korean lookout point on the edge of the Imjingang river, July 16, 2013. In 1968, an elite team of North Koran commandoes crossed into South Korea in an attempt to assassinate president Park Chung-Hee. It ...

Li Yuanchao to attend Pyongyang war commemoration

The Standard - Wednesday 24th July, 2013

(13 mins ago) China's vice president will visit North Korea this week for Korean War commemorations following a period of strained relations between the communist neighbors. Vice President Li Yuanchao will be the highest ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea since Kim Jong Un took over as leader of the impoverished hardline communist state upon his father's death in December ...

Chinese vice president to visit North Korea following period of strained ties

Fox News - Wednesday 24th July, 2013

China's vice president will visit North Korea this week for Korean War commemorations following a period of strained relations between the communist neighbors. Vice President Li Yuanchao will be the highest ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea since Kim Jong Un took over as leader of the impoverished hardline communist state upon his father's death in December 2011. The trip ...

Chinese VP to visit DPRK

Global Times - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

Li Yuanchao will head a Chinese delegation to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) from July 25 to 28 at the invitation of the DPRK side.Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei made the announcement here Wednesday.According to the spokesman , during the visit, Li, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, will ...

Diplomacy only way to handle N. Korea

Asia News Network - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

Bruce Cumings, a leading US scholar on Korea's modern history, said diplomacy and reconcilliation was the "only answer" to how to handle North Korea's nuclear adventurism. During an interview ...

N. Korea missile facility idle for 8 months

Tribune Review - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

SEOUL -- North Korea has stopped construction work at a site meant to launch bigger and better long-range rockets, a possible sign that Pyongyang is slowing or even halting development of larger rockets, according to analysis of recent satellite ...

DPRK halt on rocket facility confirmed

SINA - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

This May 26, 2013 satellite image taken by Astrium, and annotated and distributed by 38 North shows a new road to the new launch pad which also remains unfinished at the Tonghae facility in North ...

ROK-DPRK industrial park talks end without agreement

China Daily - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

The fifth round of talks between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on reopening the industrial park in Kaesong ended on Monday without a major agreement. Although no substantial progress was made in the working-level talks on Monday, the two sides agreed to hold the next round on Thursday, Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency ...

S Korea?s new film heroes N Korean spies

General Sources - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

For South Korean filmmakers, the North is a 'perfect inspiration' allowing them to mix fantasy with the realities of a neighbour that often threatens to turn Seoul into a 'sea of ...

What N. Korea should reflect on 60th anniversary of Korean War

The Dong-a Ilbo - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

What N. Korea should reflect on 60th anniversary of Korean War . JULY 24, 2013 04:39. . Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the armistice agreement between South and North Korea. It is the day to commemorate the victory of South Korea that prevented North Korea`s surprise attack. The South Korean army and 16 UN countries guarded free democracy under the United Nations flag. Once the ...

Beijing confirm?s North Korean defectors at detention center

The Dong-a Ilbo - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

Beijing confirm?s North Korean defectors at detention center . JULY 19, 2013 07:28. . The Chinese government officially confirmed to the South Korean government that it has arrested and is investigating Kim Gwang-ho and his family who re-defected from North Korea. A South Korean government source said ...

Red Cross visits crew of seized N. Korea ship in Panama

West Australian - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

COLON, Panama (AFP) - A delegation from the Panamanian Red Cross Tuesday visited the 35 crew members from a North Korea ship being held for carrying undeclared Cuban weapons.The crew of the North Korea-flagged Chong Chon Gang could face arms trafficking charges after missile and other weapons parts, as well as two Soviet-era supersonic planes, were found earlier this month.The arms were ...

Leveraging ASEANs Role in North Korean Denuclearization

Forbes - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting wrapped up earlier this month in Brunei. The ARF has been heralded by some the leading forum on political-security issues in Asia. Despite this, others regard the ARF as a mere "talk shop" that is unable to tackle complex issues such as the South China Sea dispute. But there are opportunities for ASEAN and the ARF to shed this cloak of criticism and ...

North Korea Said to Stop Construction At Rocket Site

International Herald Tribune - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

SEOUL, South Korea ...

Pyongyang kicks off mass games with war victory theme

Global Times - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

North Korea has launched its annual Arirang festival, featuring tens of thousands of performers in a highly-choreographed display of patriotism and support for the country's leadership.This year's mass games opened in Pyongyang's 150,000-capacity May Day stadium on Monday evening with a theme that focused on the 60th anniversary of the armistice suspending hostilities in the ...

Korea war veterans in Pyongyang for 60th anniversary of the end of the conflict

Euro News - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

09/05/2013 12:25 CET Korean war veterans headed to Pyongyang to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of the conflict which divided the country into North and South Korea in 1950-53. North Korea considers the armistice as a victory over US-led coalition forces. The main event will be a military parade in the capital on ...

Is North Korea Giving Up On Building New Rockets

General Sources - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground was intended to be a major new facility for building, testing, and firing large rockets and ballistic missiles on the northeast coast of the Korean peninsula. ...

AP Exclusive NKorea halts rocket launch-pad work

Tampa Bay Online - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea has stopped construction work at a site meant to launch bigger and better long-range rockets, a possible sign that Pyongyang is slowing or even halting development of larger rockets, according to a new analysis of recent satellite ...

Eight people fall victims of heavy floods in North Korea

Itar Tass - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

PYONGYANG, July 23 (Itar-Tass) - Heavy floods caused by torrential rains have taken away lives of eight people from July 20 to July 22, Korean Central News Agency said Tuesday. The flood waters destroyed or inundated 4,500 residenial houses, leaving some 17,700 people without shelter. The biggest destructions have been registered in the central provinces of Phyonggan-namdo and Phyonggan-Pukdo. ...

S. Korea demands Kaesong prevention system

Middle East Times - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

A South Korean official said the government is adamant in its demand to create solid safeguards to prevent another closing of the factory park in North Korea. The Kaesong Industrial Complex has been shut down since April when the North withdrew its workers from South Korean companies amid tensions. The decision has cost South Korean companies more than $941 million. North and South Korea have ...

Answers needed on Cubas missile shipment to North Korea

The Kansas City Star - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

Given Cuba's long-running economic crisis, you could imagine that some entrepreneurial lieutenant of the revolutionary government got a gold star for inventing a possible new revenue stream. It certainly sounds like a clever move to clean out the Cold War closet and dump some outmoded radar systems, Russian jets and missile parts on a willing taker. After all, Cuba's Museum of the ...

The threat of nuclear war North Korea or the United States

RT - Tuesday 23rd July, 2013

USA While the Western media portrays North Korea's nuclear weapons program as a threat to Global Security, it fails to acknowledge that the US has being threatening North Korea with a nuclear attack for more than half a century. On July 27, 2013, Armistice Day, Koreans in the North and the South will be commemorating the end of the Korean war (1950-53). Unknown to the broader public, ...

Source: http://www.northkoreannews.net/index.php/sid/216024513/scat/08aysdf7tga9s7f7

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Gov. Bob McDonnell Shows That There's More Than Just 'Quid Pro Quo' Corruption

It wasn't long ago that Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was everywhere. He was a Sunday news-show staple in his former role as chairman of the Republican Governors Association; he got to say "you did build that" at the 2012 Republican National Convention; he was on Mitt Romney's VP short list;?and he was viewed as a strong contender for the presidency in 2016.

But now? He'll be lucky if he gets to serve out the final months of his term as governor unscathed.

The Washington Post's Rosalind Helderman dropped yet another bombshell on Tuesday night, reporting that McDonnell's corporation and his family have accepted $145,000 in financial assistance from Jonnie R. Williams Sr., a political donor and the chief executive of the dietary supplement company Star Scientific. As CQ Roll Call's Steven Dennis pointed out on Twitter, that's far more money than convicted former Rep. William Jefferson had been keeping in his freezer.?

The money came in a variety of ways. Williams famously paid $15,000 for the?catering at McDonnell's daughter's wedding in June 2011. He bought a $6,500 Rolex that August that McDonnell's wife, Maureen, wanted to give to her husband as a gift. He covered airfare expenses for McDonnell to attend an NCAA Final Four game in April 2011. And, as the latest report shows, a corporation McDonnell and his sister owned received $70,000 from Williams last year, in addition to a $50,000 check that was given to Maureen McDonnell in 2011.

Under Virginia law, just accepting these gifts is OK. There is no limit to the value of gifts that elected officials in the state can accept. They do, however, have to disclose annually any gifts worth more than $50, although gifts to family members are exempt. Gov. McDonnell is currently under federal investigation?over whether he or his family helped Star Scientific in exchange for financial assistance. He is also under state investigation for his lack of disclosures.

Right now, though, it's impossible to say that there was an explicit "this for that" exchange that's central to conventional political corruption. Yes, Maureen McDonnell did speak to doctors and investors about the benefits of Star Scientific's Anatabloc supplement, and the product was launched in 2011 at the Virginia Governor's Mansion. Williams also was able to pitch the product as a cost-cutting boon to a top official from the Virginia Health and Human Resources Department.

But, so far at least, there's no evidence that any gifts or financial assistance was explicitly given by Williams in exchange for access or assistance for Anatabloc and Star Scientific. Without that, there's no obvious, quid pro quo political corruption. But in an age of massive campaigns and nonstop fundraising, that's not the only kind of corruption there can be.

Harvard's Lawrence Lessig gets at this with his idea of the "gift economy" in his book, Republic, Lost. Lessig defines a "gift economy" like this:

A gift economy is a series of exchanges between two or more souls who never pretend to equate one exchange to another, but who also don't pretend that reciprocating is unimportant?an economy in the sense that it marks repeated interactions over time, but a gift economy in the sense that it doesn't liquidate the relationships in terms of cash. Indeed, relationships, not cash, are the currency within these economies.

While in a quid pro quo situation, "the guilty government official must intend to pay for the contribution made," a "gift economy" is much more subtle. And prevalent. Here's an obvious, nonpolitical illustration. Lessig again:

I give you a birthday present. It is a good present not so much because it is expensive, but because it expresses well my understanding of you. In that gift, I expect something in return. I would be insulted if on my birthday, you gave me a cash voucher equivalent to the value of the gift I gave you, or even two times the amount I gave you.

As Lessig writes, the gift economy can lead to dependency corruption, where even though there is no obvious ill will, dependency on a donor can lead to the deterioration of objectivity when it comes to examining the interests that that donor represents.

The McDonnell situation doesn't necessarily fit this gift-economy mold perfectly. As Lessig pictures it, the political gift economy is largely a product of campaign fundraising. With McDonnell, in some cases, direct cash was given by Williams. But with "gifts" like the Rolex, the food catering, and the Final Four airfare, some of this is at play.

Is there proof that Williams, in giving those gifts, demanded reciprication for his company? No. At least not yet. But that doesn't mean that McDonnell and his family weren't inclined to look at Williams and Star Scientific more favorably because of the financial assistance they were given.

Is this corruption, even without the intent of quid pro quo? Lessig would likely say yes:

The most significant and powerful forms of coruption today are precisely those that thrive without depending upon quid pro quos for their effectiveness.

In McDonnell's situation, with thousands of dollars in goods and services in question, you can make the case that dependency is involved. That's not something, of course, that McDonnell can be accused of by federal or state prosecutors. But it is something that will reflect on his legacy as governor, and could possibly have led to more overt and actionable problems.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gov-bob-mcdonnell-shows-theres-more-just-quid-093850135.html

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Video: Rentals Are Back

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Yelp Platform offers takeout orders, salon and dentist appointments to follow

Well Seamless, it looks like Yelp will see your online food orders and raise you a trip to the yoga studio to burn off that bean burrito. Today the online repository of business reviews launched Yelp Platform, an online transaction system that will let customers order meals and book appointments through partner sites like Delivery.com, Eat24, Booker and Demandforce. At launch only a select number of restaurants are supported, including Harry's Pizza Bar in New York and Layalay in San Francisco, but more will be added in the coming months as Yelp Platform is expanded to additional categories. Now you'll be able to read reviews for that greasy Mexican joint down the block (check its health inspection score while you're at it) and order the steak taco platter all from the same page. Plus, you'll be able to punch in your order both on the web (desktop or mobile) and from the iOS app. Android support should be coming shortly. Of course, this means that Yelp will have to convince restaurants to support Delivery.com and Eat24. Either that, or it'll have to learn to play nice with the newly minted Seamless-GrubHub conglomerate.

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Source: Yelp

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Cities suing over Mendocino County property tax levies - Ukiah ...

Ukiah Daily Journal

The cities of Ukiah, Willits and Fort Bragg are suing the county of Mendocino and Auditor-Controller Meredith Ford for hundreds of thousands of dollars they claim she overcharged them in fees for administering the cities' property taxes.

Ford's office is responsible for distributing each city's share of the property taxes collected in the county, for which it charges an annual Property Tax Administration Fee.

At issue is whether the fee was calculated correctly after the state Supreme Court ruled in November that the fees could not include as a basis additional property tax money to compensate cities and counties when the state instituted two financing mechanisms -- known as the "Triple Flip" and the "VLF (vehicle license fees) Swap."

The state in 2004 made a quarter-cent cut to the Bradley-Burns Sales and Use Tax rate paid to cities and counties in order to repay state-issued economic recovery bonds, according to a summary written by Ukiah City Attorney David J. Rapport, Fort Bragg City Attorney James Lance and the Willits city attorney in a petition to recover the amounts the cities claim they were overcharged.

To replace the lost sales tax, state law temporarily instituted the Triple Flip, which provides that cities and counties get property taxes that would have otherwise gone to the county's Educational Revenue Augmentation Fund for schools, according to the summary.

The VLF Swap has no sunset. Starting in 2004, the state reduced

the amount of vehicle license fees paid to cities and counties from 2 percent to 0.65 percent, and, similar to the Triple Flip arrangement, provided that cities and counties would get "in-lieu payments of property taxes equal to the lost VLF," according to the summary.

Ford's office also distributes the in-lieu property tax revenue to replace the revenue the cities lose in the Triple Flip and VLF Swap arrangements.

In November 2008, 47 cities in Los Angeles County sued that county, claiming it was charging a higher property tax fee than state law allows.

"The cities in that case alleged that beginning in ... 2006/2007 ... Los Angeles County and the other respondents charged the city petitioners more than the actual, incremental costs associated with the county's administration of the in-lieu payments for the VLF Swap and the Triple flip," and instead charged each city a share of the Property Tax Administration Fee "based on the increased distribution of property tax proceeds due to the Triple Flip and the VLF Swap rather than each city's proportionate share of the actual, incremental cost to administer" the two fiscal arrangements.

The California Supreme Court ruled on Nov. 19 that "counties could not charge cities for the additional cost of administering the allocation of property taxes resulting from the Legislature's enactment" of the Triple Flip and VLF Swap.

"More specifically," according to the city attorneys' summary and allegations, "the Court held that (state law) did not authorize California counties to calculate cities' proportionate share of the counties' property tax administration fee by including in the cities' base' those funds that would have been placed in the ERAF but were not deposited as a result of the Triple Flip ... and VLF Swap."

While it's uncertain whether the state Supreme Court's ruling applies to past fees or meant to correct the problem in the 2012-13 fiscal year, according to the city attorneys' filing, the amounts purportedly overcharged in administration fees add up to $339,630 for all four of Mendocino County's cities, from fiscal year 2006-07 to 2011-12.

The city attorneys' petition says the cities haven't heard from the county that it means to comply with the court's ruling "with respect to the past overcharge of property tax administration fees or future charges," making the petition the cities only recourse. The cities are asking for a writ of mandate to "obtain a review of the Respondents' actions in violation of their duty under (state law) and he Alhambra decision," the petition says.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.

Source: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/news/ci_23623877/cities-suing-over-mendocino-county-property-tax-levies

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PVR Partners Schedules Earnings Release And Conference Call For Second Quarter 2013 Results

RADNOR, Pa., July 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- PVR Partners, L.P. (PVR) today announced that it will release financial results for the second quarter of 2013 before market opening on Wednesday, July 24, 2013 and hold a conference call to discuss those results on the same day at 2:00?p.m. Eastern Daylight Time. The conference call will be publicly available via webcast on a live and replay basis. The text of the press release and links to the webcast will be available at PVR's website, www.pvrpartners.com, as well as through other electronic business news services.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110224/PH54022LOGO)

Interested parties are invited to listen to the conference call, during which prepared remarks by William H. Shea, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer, and other members of management will be followed by a question and answer session.? Participants in the conference call who would like to ask questions may join by phone.? Individuals who intend to listen only are encouraged to join the conference via the Internet.

Event:????	Conference call to discuss second quarter 2013 financial and operating results.
Time:??????	July 24, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.
Internet:?	The webcast may be accessed directly at http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=94745. The webcast link is also posted in the "Scheduled Events" section of the homepage of PVR's website, www.pvrpartners.com. ?Listeners are encouraged to log on approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start of the call to download and install or test any necessary audio software.
Phone:???	Dial 800-860-2442 (international 412-858-4600) five to ten minutes before the scheduled start of the conference call and reference the PVR Partners call.
Replay:??	An on-demand replay of the webcast will also be available at PVR's website shortly after the webcast. A telephonic replay of the call will be available through July 31, 2013. The replay can be accessed by dialing toll free 877-344-7529 (international:412-317-0088) and using the replay code 10030534.

PVR Partners, L.P. (PVR) is a publicly traded limited partnership which owns and operates a network of natural gas midstream pipelines and processing plants, and owns and manages coal and natural resource properties.? Our midstream assets, located principally in Texas, Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, provide gathering, transportation, compression, processing, dehydration and related services to natural gas producers.? Our coal and natural resource properties, located in the Appalachian, Illinois and San Juan basins, are leased to experienced operators in exchange for royalty payments.? More information about PVR is available on our website at www.pvrpartners.com.

Contact:??	Stephen R. Milbourne
	Director - Investor Relations
	Phone: 610-975-8204
	E-Mail: invest@pvrpartners.com

?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pvr-partners-schedules-earnings-release-132100934.html

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